Wapda achieves milestone by diverting River Indus

ISLAMABAD: The under-construction Dasu Hydropower Project crossed a major milestone the other day, as the mighty River Indus was successfully diverted following completion of one of the two diversion tunnels.

Instead of its natural course, the River Indus was now flowing through a 1.33 kilometer (km) long diversion tunnel with 20 meters (m) width and 23m height, said a press release.

Consequently, construction activities have been initiated on the starter dam, leading toward the construction of the main dam of Dasu Hydropower Project.

General Manager and Project Director Dasu Hydropower Project, representatives of the contractors and the consultants along with a number of engineers and workers witnessed the historic moment of River Indus diversion.

Meanwhile, WAPDA Chairman Engr Lt Gen. Sajjad Ghani (retd) congratulated the project team on achieving this landmark.

The diversion system of Dasu Hydropower Project comprises two tunnels – tunnel A and tunnel B. Of these, tunnel B is complete, which has the discharge capacity, sufficient to divert water of River Indus during the current lean-flows season, the press release says. The 1.5 km long tunnel A, with 20m width and 23m height, will also be ready by mid-April this year to cater to the increased water flows during the high-flows season, it adds. Dasu Hydropower Project is a vital component of the least-cost, green and clean energy generation plan of WAPDA. The project is being constructed across River Indus, upstream of Dasu town in Upper Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The 4,320 MW Dasu Hydropower Project is planned to be completed in two stages. At present, WAPDA is constructing its stage-I with installed generation capacity of 2,160 MW and annual energy generation of 12 billion units. Stage-I of the project is likely to start electricity generation in 2026. The 2,160 MW stage-II, when implemented, will also provide 9 billion units to the National Grid. On completion of both stages, Dasu will become the project with the highest annual energy generation in Pakistan i.e. 21 billion units per annum on average.